After considerable speculation that he might play the Sentry Tournament of Champions for the first time since 2005, Woods has elected to forgo the tournament he qualified for by winning the Tour Championship in September.

Alex Urban, the tournament's general manager, said they had heard from Woods' representatives and that he is "spending more time with family and friends over the holiday and will start his season at a later event.''

Woods is most likely to make his 2019 debut at the Farmers Insurance Open, which begins Jan. 24 at Torrey Pines, where he has won eight times. That is where he has started most of his years dating back to 2006. In 2005, he played the Tournament of Champions for the last time, tying for third. He has never finished outside of the top 10, with two victories and a total of six top-five finishes in eight appearances.

Because Woods figures to play less than the 18 official events he entered in 2018, Kapalua seemed a good fit due to its small field and no cut, assuring him of FedEx Cup points, Presidents Cup points and World Ranking points.

Woods said at the Hero World Challenge earlier this month that he felt he played too much in 2018 -- especially seven of nine weeks at the end of the season -- and wanted to fully decompress and prepare for 2019.

"I'm not going to play as many as I did this year,'' Woods said in the Bahamas. "I played in too many this year, and that was from adding an event because I missed the cut at [the Genesis Open] to qualifying to get into Akron [the Bridgestone Invitational]. Who knew that I could make it through all the playoff events? So all those events took a toll. I won't be playing as much as I did [in 2018].''

Woods also played in the Ryder Cup and the Hero World Challenge in addition to the 18 official events. In the past 10 years, the only time he played more often was in 2012.

"He couldn't really plan for 2018,'' agent Mark Steinberg told ESPN on Thursday. "Now that he's had that rise, there can be a bit more planning and efficiency to what he is doing going forward. He had the potential to win two majors, won the Tour Championship, was in contention for the FedEx Cup, the Ryder Cup. That success allows him to schedule the way he did for the first 13, 15 years instead of having to react as he did this year. He just wants to look at the next few years more efficiently.''

A long trip to Australia following the Hero likely did not help in favor of a Hawaii decision. As part of his Presidents Cup duties, Woods spent three days in Melbourne before flying back to Florida on Dec. 7. Two weeks ago, he had a corporate day in Georgia with clubmaker TaylorMade and also spent time at a golf course project in Mexico.

The 14-time major winner turns 43 on Dec. 30. He had seven top-10 finishes including his victory in Atlanta in what was considered a surprisingly successful season after a return from spinal fusion surgery. He will begin the new year ranked 13th in the world.